Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of resuscitation devices.
Description of the Related Art
All over the world, people experience cardiac and respiratory events. For example, both in and out of the hospital, there is a significant incidence of cardiac and/or respiratory arrest. For these situations, a variety of therapies may be appropriate. The patient may require artificial respiration, chest compressions, defibrillation, and/or pacing.
Many patents exist discussing devices related to these events and situations. For example, a chest compression device is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,984 B1. Some of these devices even aggregate such features, such as are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,349,015, and 4,424,806.
Many of the prior art devices, however, merely aggregate such features, without making them work together. Therefore there exists a need for devices that can combine, coordinate and integrate various aspects of these diagnostics and therapies to better diagnose and treat the patient. That is because many of these conditions are related, and a patient might need one of these therapies alternating with another.